Twitter drama: fake persona, covid, and #metoo

[bacardiandlime]

Yesterday on twitter there was an announcement made by an academic of the death of a scholar who went by @sciencing_bi. She was native American, worked at ASU, and had died of Covid-19.
Within a few hours, it was revealed that sciencing_bi seemed to be a fake persona (everyone who had claimed to know her it turned out had only interacted online, all the photos on her account were in fact stock pictures, ASU couldn't find any employee who had died).
She had been somewhat visible in #metoostem discussions and the nature of the scam is unclear (she seems to have been a creation of another scholar, as far as anyone can tell). Fake identity, appropriating indigenous identity (to the point of apparently sending people Hopi handcraft items...).
I'm not in the sciences but watching this unfolding was fascinating.

[RatGuy]

I know none of the players in this story, but I do think that this sort of online performance to be interesting.

Wasn't there another issue of an ASU professor being falsely accused of sexual misconduct in order to destroy her chances at a promotion or job offer? I believe that the allegations came from another faculty member who had created fake student accounts (as in, they created social media pages across different platforms of a single fake student)? I can't imagine having the energy maintain these sorts of facades -- in the case of Science_Bi, I'd imagine I'd be exhausted by it all quite quickly.

[Diogenes]

Here's an article that goes into some of the detail about Dolezal 2.0
https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/sciencing_bi-bethann-mclaughlin-asu/

[jimbogumbo]

The alleged perpetrator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BethAnn_McLaughlin

[ab_grp]

I've been following this too in the wake of the c. elegans Twitter storm.  The suspicion does seem to be that the individual jimbogumbo posted about was behind this potentially fake account.  I have followed some of what this individual has been doing for a couple years because she has put herself in the spotlight a good bit, and there has been a lot of controversy about her handling of the #metoo work.  Initially, it seemed that she was bringing to light a lot of stories that some universities would prefer to keep buried, that she was an advocate, and so forth, but I guess some of those who started working with her on her efforts ended up abandoning that ship due to allegations of mismanagement, bullying, etc.  It is definitely an interesting story, even more so in light of the background.  It's terrible that so many people who "knew" the allegedly deceased scholar had to deal with that "loss" if it was all just a fake and a way of garnering more attention (since the alleged perpetrator also broke the news of the death).  And the characteristics of the fake scholar seem very skeevy (e.g., cultural appropriation mentioned here).

ETA: I just checked, and it looks as though the alleged perp's Twitter account has been suspended.

[bacardiandlime]

yes both accounts were suspended VERY quickly, which was odd (seems to take forever to get porn spammers kicked off)

[ab_grp]

When I first saw the commotion sometime earlyish yesterday (?), the fake account had been locked but not suspended, and the alleged perp's was still active, with her posting about having a Zoom wake of some sort for the fake person.  Now they are both suspended.  So I guess this has been evolving, but it is certainly moving pretty quickly, considering! There is an interesting synopsis of some of the happenings on @endlesswario account.  This is such a strange story.  I guess the alleged perp needed some attention.

[bacardiandlime]

I guess the alleged perp needed some attention.

Or some cash. The online "wake" involved a venmo....

[ab_grp]

I guess the alleged perp needed some attention.

Or some cash. The online "wake" involved a venmo....

True enough.  I also saw some mention that the fake account requested other venmo (coffee?) routed through the alleged perp with implication that this would be fraudulent (in the illegal sense). I'm not sure if that would be the case, but it's certainly sketchy and reeks.

[jimbogumbo]

The story is more fleshed out here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/apparent-death-hoax-rocks-science-twitter

[marshwiggle]

The story is more fleshed out here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/apparent-death-hoax-rocks-science-twitter

It's incredibly ironic that someone who founded an organization dedicated to believing peoples' claims would have falsified the entire existence of a person.

[ab_grp]

The story is more fleshed out here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/apparent-death-hoax-rocks-science-twitter

It's incredibly ironic that someone who founded an organization dedicated to believing peoples' claims would have falsified the entire existence of a person.

Agreed.  Kind of makes me wish IHE was still allowing comments on articles.  There is a lot to unpack here.

[sprout]

The story is more fleshed out here: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/apparent-death-hoax-rocks-science-twitter

It's incredibly ironic that someone who founded an organization dedicated to believing peoples' claims would have falsified the entire existence of a person.

Agreed.  Kind of makes me wish IHE was still allowing comments on articles.  There is a lot to unpack here.

It's been posted elsewhere (I think I heard first from polly_mer), but in case you've missed it:  Reddit now has a forum for commenting on Inside Higher Ed articles. Apparent death hoax rocks Science Twitter

[ab_grp]

Thanks, Sprout.  I am guessing not as many folks will head over there as might have posted on IHE, but I had forgotten they had this alternative in place.

[writingprof]

. . . appropriating indigenous identity (to the point of apparently sending people Hopi handcraft items) . . .

But did she contribute to Pow Wow Chow?